Zombie Winter!

April 8th through 14th

It started off well. Melting snow gave way to lawn, melting shore ice gave way to sand. The air was filled with birdsong and the sounds of moving water. Winter, declared dead last week, was still dead.

There was also some sun, warm, and fog.

Knott Lane was a little mooshy, but the snow and ice that had covered the surface was long gone.

There was even the most Springyest of events: Rain! Just over a half of an inch will push the lake level up nicely.

It started while we were collecting buckets of sap. A light snow rapidly changed into heavy snow. The wet, heavy nature of the white had it clumping together as is fell. It was like millions of medium sized snowballs pelting the area. The third Horseman of the Snowpocalypse was upon us. Welcome to the icy horror of Zombie Winter!

After the first day of big flakes, the next two held on and off flurries. By the time Zombie Winter shuffled back to the grave, the paths to the sugarbush had an early March feel.

It looks like the Maple Syrup Season only has a few sap runs left. This is the first year that the feet were not exchanged for wheels all sapping season.

We went to get an ice thickness measurement on Sunday. This is were I broke through just off the shore. Socks were wet long after the sun went down. There will be no more ice thickness measurements this Spring.

After the passing of Zombie Winter, there were some nice sunsets over the lake.

While the lake and surrounding watershed were covered in a blanket of white through the weekend, it feels like Spring. It's not so cold (especially when the sun is out), paved roads are ice free, and the sugarmen are planning to pull taps soon. The main remaining Winter residue is the lake ice and there's a pair of wet socks that imply that it may be gone sooner than we all think.<br><br>-Nemo's pulling in the welcome mat for Snowpocalyptic Horsemen.